At last night’s Montgomery County Planning Board meeting, Greg Ossont, Deputy Director of the Montgomery County Department of General Services (DGS), declared that it was premature for the Planning Board Staff to make assumptions about the proposed use of the Westmore Avenue property. Ossont insisted that the Planning Board should only consider whether the County could acquire the property and that the mandatory referral for the site plan based on its use was a separate process. Basically, his message was that the County is allowed to acquire property.
The Planning Board staff recommended against the County purchasing the property for use as a bus depot finding this use inconsistent with the recommendations of the Master Plan and the intent statement of the light industrial zone. A bus depot, they reasoned, could potentially have significant negative impacts on the Lincoln Park community in regards to traffic, noise, safety, and compatibility.
Planning Board Vice Chair Marye Wells-Harley quickly responded that, out of concern for the community, the County couldn’t say they were “just buying it and it’s not for bus parking”. Ossont then admitted that the current thinking was to evaluate the site for bus parking, but not a bus depot.
Then Rockville Mayor Bridget Newton was the first to testify and she dropped a bomb shell which came as a shock to everyone.
After stating that she was in attendance with Councilmenbers Virginia Onley and Mark Pierzchala, Newton informed the Planning Board that several facts had come to light. The first was that the County had already executed and signed an agreement to purchase the property on Westmore Avenue without a mandatory referral from the Planning Board. This was obviously news to the Planning Board and they asked for a copy of the document to be submitted to the Staff. Second, the contract was for $12 million and did not contain a contingency clause. This was a done deal unless the County defaulted.
Newton continued about one of the articles in the agreement involving a land swap but none was apparent. Then she questioned the purpose for the acquisition if it wasn’t for bus parking because the property is outside the WSSC service area and had previously been denied water and sewer service. Newton stressed that homes are within 50 feet of the property and questioned how the County could justify putting buses within feet of current Montgomery County residents and tax payers.
Later, after looking over the document, Planning Board Commissioner Norman Dreyfuss said they would make a decision but “the horse is already out of the barn” and the County is going to acquire the property.
The Planning Board had much more to learn about the situation. Several community members told them about the other property currently owned by Montgomery County Public Schools in Lincoln Park on North Stonestreet Avenue next to the historic Lincoln High School. Over 150 rusting trailers have sat on this property for years next to a landmark in Montgomery County black educational history, the oldest remaining high school constructed for black students in Montgomery County. As the largest property owner in the neighborhood, MCPS was described by those testifying as already suppressing their property values with this site which was “deplorable” and “an eyesore” and the bus parking will suppress the value even more.
Suzan Pitman, President of the East Rockville Citizens Association, spoke about the width of this historic neighborhood’s streets which were not built to today’s standards and are too narrow to handle additional traffic through the limited gateways into the community. Framing the bus depot as making a bad situation worse, she described driving down Ashley Avenue in her Prius and having to pull over for vehicle on the street. Pitman also pointed out that the county was paying $12 million for unimproved property when they couldn’t afford to give teachers a raise. “Whatever trust we had is gone.”
Neighbors testified from Lincoln Park, the Legacy at Lincoln Park, and Twinbrook. Together they painted a picture of how the bus parking would be damaging to their way of life. Parents were concerned that they would not be able to safely play at the newly renovated Wilma Bell Park. Virginia Cooper, who has lived in Lincoln Park for more than 50 years could not conceive of buses turning the corner from Ashley to Westmore because the house on corner has been hit twice by vehicles. Shifting the buses to the neighborhood in the name of smart growth was questioned by one speaker who asked, “Smart growth for who?” The Department of General Services purchase of the property was viewed as a “desperate” attempt to relocate the buses by DGS Staff who had spectacularly failed in their jobs.
When questioned by former Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo about the legality of the County purchasing property without first receiving the mandatory referral from the Planning Board, Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson explained that the Board acts only in an advisory capacity and it was “not particularly irregular” to purchase property then come to the Board with another use. He framed the situation as not being about the law, but rather about best practice.
After the testimony, Ossont was brought back to the table and he admitted the feasibility period for the contract was over and the current plan is to use the property for satellite parking, then it was time for the Planning Board’s response.
Dreyfuss then said he would support the staff recommendation against the use of the property for bus parking “vehemently” and advised Ossont that he could “change this into a real positive” by bringing in the right kind of development that will be a residential buffer instead of a bus parking. Since the Board always preaches a transition from residential to industrial, this property could create that transition.
Commissioner Amy Presley admitted that she didn’t know trailers were left on the historic school site and described this community as being “abused”. As to there being a contract on the site and whether the county can do that, she said it was not the intent of the process for people to find out that it’s already a done deal. Commissioner Natali Fani-Gonzalez chimed in that the process was disrespectful to this Board and disrespectful to the community.
Wells-Harley noted that so many negatives went through her mind before she even knew about the contract, that it would be so easy for her to turn this into a very negative situation. But she has respect for her County and my County Staff so she said, “I will tell you, I am very, very disappointed.” She felt one of the oldest African American communities in county had been disrespected when society needs to preserve them and protect our children.
Presley added that this as a small community which couldn’t afford legal counsel and deserved to have a message go back to County Executive Ike Leggett’s office that this community needs to have something good done for it.
Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson “didn’t need to pile on” so he encouraged a joint effort to find a solution to the bus parking problem. Stating the development at Shady Grove made sense, he encouraged Rockville and Gaithersburg to help the county figure out where to put some of the buses. He was concerned that if we can’t find the place for 400 buses, there was not hope to find places for the five high schools and their feeder schools which will be needed for the County’s future growth.
Newton offered the City Staff’s suggestions for other sites – the former landfill at Gude Drive and Southlawn which could be used with mitigation and the public service training facility on Shady Grove Road which will be vacant in July and is not expected to be developed for years.
The Planning Board unanimously voted to accept the Staff recommendation against Montgomery County purchasing the property for use as a bus depot, which it had already done.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160622192628/http://www.rockvilleview.com/shocking-revelation-leggett-already-bought-westmore-property-for-bus-depot/
